What’s up, hockey fans? Here is the November 1, 2026 edition of the Injury Ward!

What a great first month of hockey it has been. Blockbuster trades, records being broken by legendary Canadian players, and of course, a plethora of injuries to report, so let's not waste any more time.    

Here are the key injury updates heading into the week:

Troy Terry (RW) – ANA – week-to-week – I know everyone's been holding their breath for any sort of update on Terry's condition and estimated date of return now that November has arrived. Thankfully, we were given a special treat this Halloween with the following statement being provided October 31 by Joel Quenneville on Terry's timeline for return: "Troy is closer. When I say closer, hopefully, definitely, in the next, I'm gonna say, week or so".

It is officially time to start making preparations or plans for who comes out when Terry goes back into your lineup. 

Ryan Pulock (D) – NYI – 2-4 weeks – Pulock sustained an upper body injury very early in the game against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday and was evaluated by team doctors on Saturday. The Isles announced Sunday that Pulock would be out 2-4 weeks while he recovers from the injury. The Islanders franchise leader in blocked shots was off to a decent start for fantasy owners in banger leagues with one assist, 23 blocked shots, and 11 hits on the year, while logging just over 17 and a half minutes of ice time. Hopefully this isn't related to the offseason shoulder surgery that he had or the nights are going to get a lot longer in Long Island with their blueline already in shambles.

The Minnesota Minute: There were some new Minnesota Wild injury updates provided October 29, all coming from the same source in Minnesota: Joe Nelson of Bring Me the Sports.

Filip Gustavsson (G) – MIN – week-to-week – Fresh updates out of Minnesota once again regarding the Wild's (former?) No.1 goaltender. Gustavsson has begun skating again after offseason hip surgery and will be returning to practice and pregame skates in roughly two weeks.

Before the season, I was fairly confident his job would still be available and the Wild would have been desperate to get him back between the pipes. Now, I look silly, as Jesper Wallstedt has solidified himself as Minnesota's current starter. He has put up an impressive 8-2-3 record to start the year, along with very juicy 2.14 GAA and .916 SV% through 13 of the Wild's first 15 games to start the year.

In my opinion though, there's no way Wallstedt can maintain this heavy workload with this type of success all season, so there will be room for Gustavsson to return to his rightful place atop the food chain. I would strongly consider monitoring this situation closely if you are in a state of goalie flux.

My thought: trade Wallstedt while he's hot to bolster your lineup up front and you can sneakily add Gustavsson on the backend since he's rostered in less than 50% in both Yahoo and ESPN leagues. If you do pull off a blockbuster trade for Wallstedt, please share with me on my X account!     

Brock Faber (D) – MIN – week-to-week – At least most of the injury updates in the North Star State are good ones today, especially this one. After sustaining a terrifying fracture to the left side of the skull in the preseason, Faber has been cleared to return to workouts and skating exercises now that the Wild have officially activated his return-to-play protocol. An official timeline for his return should be provided later this week by Minnesota. Last season, Faber was an absolute machine over the 80 games he played, logging 24:41 minutes on the ice, along with 15 goals (8.7% shooting), 36 assists, 148 hits, 33 hits and 36 takeaways.

This is another player you might be able to find hanging around in your free agency pool as the season progresses and roster changes are underway. He is still available in 30% of ESPN leagues and 14% of Yahoo leagues. If he is, be sure to visit DobberHockey daily for any updates to his status so you can plan your next move and secure yourself a bonafide stud on the blueline.     

Here are a couple other quick updates:

Jared Spurgeon (D) – MIN – week-to-week – A quick mention was included on Spurgeon still being a couple weeks away from return, as well.

Adrian Kempe (RW) – LAK – day-to-day – Did not play Saturday with an undisclosed injury. No additional updates available at this time.

Devin Cooley (G) – CGY – injured reserve – Cooley's hot start has come to an abrupt end as he was placed on the IR with a lower body injury by Calgary on Friday as per reports out of Calgary.

Ivan Provorov (D) – CBJ – Returned to action Saturday.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Injury Ward. My name is Kevin Bissonette, and I will be providing weekly NHL injury coverage, all season long. Please give me a follow on X (@DH_KBissonette), and feel free to reach out with any last-minute questions for your squad or updates from your favorite insiders!

Thanks for taking the time to visit Dobber Hockey and good luck this week!